Nintendo has been the Third Reich of the gaming world when it comes to indie and third party publishers. Despite the fact that they may have finally opened the doors to these publishers now, Nobody wants to work their way around the insanity that the Wii-Pad or Panty Liner or whatever the **** it's called is...Nintendo has me for portable games for the rest of my life, but never will I move past my Gamecube in terms of home consoles. They made their bed, now they can lay in it. I really wish they would have got their collective act together...And them releasing third party games years after the initial lauch is not innovative in the slightest...It's far better than the Xbox One i won't argue that ever.

No it goes quite a bit further. Recycling 20 y/o games and calling them new kinda rumbles my jeffries. And multiple games center on the use of the Game Pad as the core concept. And we won't see nearly as many tier 1 titles because who would want to drag there games down to the point of not boiling the Wii-U's tiny processor? I don't have to explain anything to someone that is clearly a rabid fanboy white knighting for this excuse of a game console. Nor do you have to agree.This will hit it's stride someday...but I don't see it happening for quite a long time...Prolly not till they make a console based on the PowerGlove. Nintendo is good but they make a lot of un warranted risk, and people that want to play a game for over three hours without having to charge that excuse of a peripheral are paying for it.

But it is! I can't recall which developer, but I heard one saying they weren't making some Wii U version of a game to "play it safe" cause they didn't want to risk ruining the game by incorporating the Gamepad.

any deluxe packs you can find, typically the zombie U premium back though I think its discontinued, include it. It was around about £320 on launch day so I'd imagine if you find one it'll be a fair bit cheaper.

I don't know about the special edition bundles that ashfightsrobots suggested, but I got the standard Wii U Deluxe console and I didn't get a Wii U Pro Controller. Granted, both black and white official Pro controllers are about $40 on amazon now, but keep that in mind if you're planning on buying a Wii U.

Unlike the Wii, the Wii U does not have outlets for Gamecube memory cards or controllers and therefore not backwards compatible with the Gamecube (though through a free software patch, you can still play Wii games and transfer all your Wii data over). Nintendo says that it will release Gamecube games on the Wii U Virtual Console eventually, but you'd be limited to the gamepad or a Pro controller for gameplay.

In all honesty, you don't really need the Pro controller. It functions exactly the same as the Wii U gamepad, only differing in its shape, lack of touchscreen and long battery life (80+ hrs. to the gamepad's 3-4 hrs.). You may want it for games that do not require the touchscreen or if you play a multiplayer game that requires more than one controller but doesn't accept the still used Wii Remotes. Call of Duty: Black Ops II is an example of why you'd want a pro controller if you play spitscreen, as one person can play on the TV while the other can play completely on the gamepad (no more screen watching!)

I'm going to get a Pro Controller eventually, but that'd probably be for the new Super Smash Bros. when it comes out. But yeah, if you ever get a Wii U, get the black, deluxe model like I did. While you can use a USB for outside memory storage, the standard white model only has 8GB of memory compared to the Deluxe model 32 GB, and 8GB fills up fast.

A typical controller would be better for multiplayer games and fighters.

I've never actually used the gamepad so I don't have an opinion on it. I guess there isn't a good reason to hold on to the GameCube controllers if the Pro is good but it should have come with the console in all of the packages

I thought the Wii U allowed players to play GameCube, games you need to buy them on the Wii U again? It'll probably take them years to get even the best portion of the game cubes releases to their library.

I don't see why a Pro controller needs to be bundled with Wii U along with the gamepad. Every other console ships with only one controller and the Gamepad is that one controller for the Wii U.
My thoughts on the gamepad controller: it's fine, but the distance between the bumper and trigger buttons as a little weird and the angle of the face buttons to analog sticks is more obtuse than that of its Pro counterpart, which is basically a 360 controller with the right analog and abxy buttons switched. None of it is really an issue for me after a bit of use, but I agree that traditional controllers are just better for some games. I do like the use of the gamepad touchscreen though. Even if only a map display is used, I like the option of some games removing a screen HUD to the gamepad to clean up the main screen. Plus, it's nice that a lot of games can be played entirely on the gamepad if someone else needs to use the TV, but I personally think the sound output on the gamepad isn't that great for music and SFX to be solely on the gamepad.
There isn't any Gamecube games yet as I said, but yes, Nintendo plans on re-releasing Gamecube games on the Wii U. I have my Wii and my Gamecube, so I don't really have a problem with it, just like how I still have my PS2 hooked up because of the PS3 removing its backwards compatibility later in its life span. I'm actually kind of glad that Nintendo is going to put up Gamecube games on the Wii U rather than stopping at N64. Maybe theyill release some of the good ones that I have difficulty finding that isn't ridiculously overpriced online.
Yes, the memory thing is stupid. I think it's stupid for Nintendo to release a Standard and Deluxe version at launch rather than a single console version, but that's just me. You can use things like usb sticks and harddrives for memory if you have spares, but since I like the convenience of having all my memory in one place, I went with Deluxe.

The Wii U could come bundled with the Pro like the PS4 and One are coming bundled with the PS sensor and Kinect 2 respectively. I don't have a problem withe the gamepad it has a lot of potential. I just prefer to use controllers when I game and feel that the Pro will be the favorite way to game for hardcore gamers and the device that most developers would center their games for seeing as how most games are developed for Xbox then brought to the others.

As I said, there is not much of a difference between the two controllers, only that the gamepad has a touch screen. All games that one is able to play with the Pro controller are just as easily played on the gamepad, only that there would most likely be some sort of touchscreen mechanic (again, even if only a map) added to the Wii U version of a multiplatform game, thus the reason for not shipping the pro controller as well--they are virtually the same. You use the Pro is you need a second controller or if you prefer its shape. that's all. If you want the traditional controller it is available for you to buy, but the gamepad can do all that the controller can do and more so they were not shipped together.

Oh... but I forgot a little detail about the controllers. You can talk on the gamepad with or without a plug in microphone unlike xbox. But as far as I know, the Pro version does not have a headphone jack. If you want to speak, you'd have to keep the wii U controller with you. Now that one is ******** . Even if you use the pro, there still are gamepad options that can be used just like you were using the gamepad (if the game supports this) so you may have the gamepad with you anyway, but still.

I don't regret having a Wii U despite its flaws. I just wish I could play it more, but that won't happen until Nintendo gets its library going. The situation mirrors what happened with the slow start of the 3DS, I think, and look how big the 3DS is now. There are plenty of good games coming for the Wii U, some of which we have seen, but most think most of Nintendo's heavy hitters will be revealed at this year's E3.

They cancelled the big one, yes. They're apparently doing many smaller Nintendo Direct style showcases for different groups of fans, so they aren't completely out yet. I'm interested in mostly everything both the 3DS and Wii U have to offer, so it sucks not to see most of it in one place. If you couldn't tell already, I love Nintendo, but I want to see what Sony has to offer (more specifically, From Software's Dark Souls II. Dark Souls and Demon's Souls are some of my favorite games on my PS3).

Oh and if you read that article, there isn't universal support for the Pro controller, but that's really for the earlier games. I'm sure more and more games will support it both 1st and 3rd party as the console gets older. Right now though, it's best not to worry about it, as there really isn't much for the Wii U yet. The games I play most on it are Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and Resident Evil: Revelations, both of which do support the Pro.

I know! I saw a 10 minute demo by the developers and I have to stop myself from looking at anything else about it. The stuff I saw, like the castle swarmed by drakes, look so damn awesome. I just want to experience the traps first without knowing what's going to happen. I have high hopes for this game, even if Hidetaka Miyazaki, director of the King's Field series, Demon's Souls, and Dark Souls, shifted to a supervisor role for this one.